Holding hands
by zlinka
Summary: The title kind of explains it all. Hinata likes holding hands. Find out who she likes holding hands with the most. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Hinata Hyuuga age 6.

Hinata had always liked holding hands. It was a habbit that she always had. Her earliest memory was of her small hand being cradled by her fathers strong hand as they walked down the street. She remembered feeling protected and loved and treassured. It was a feeling that Hinata often missed about their current relationship. Hinata knew her father loved her, but she missed the open displays of affection he gave her before her mother died. Now Hiashi displayed his love through training and encouraging her to become stronger.

Hinata still liked holding hands. It was how she expressed herself the best. It was how she showed her friends and family that she cared about them. But there was always something missing. Holding hand didn't make her feel tressured anymore. Eventually she stopped holding other people's hands, and just clasped her hands togehter, giving to her self the one thing that others were unable to give her.

Hinata Hyuuga age 13.

After Sasuke had left the village to be with Orochimaru, Hinata had started holding people's hands again. She needed to show those she loved that they were important to her before she never got the chance to do so again. When she first started holding hands again, people...talked. They thought, _Oh that poor dear. Naruto leaves and she starts going out with everyone to try and fill the void._ Everyone knew that Hinata had a crush on Naruto, just like they all knew that Naruto only had eyes for Sakura.

The first time anyone saw Hinata holding hands, was with her cousin Neji. Everyone was quite certain that they were just acting like cousins, so they didn't think much of it. The next day however, they saw Kiba walking Hinata home hand in hand. And then the next day it was Shino she was holding hands with. What really caught people's attention was when Hinata was spotted holding hands with _both_ Shino and Kiba, as they went to get their weekly dinner together.

Rumors continued to insue about Hinata as she was seen holding hands with each member of the "Rookie Nine," with the exception of Naruto and Sasuke, the other members of her cousin's team, and even the jounin team leaders of those teams. Finally the rumors reached Hinata, it took them longer then other runors because everyone she held hands with wanted to shield her from the nasty thoughts of the village. She blushed and stammered, but didn't stop holding her loved ones hands. Everyone who was concerned knew the truth, and that was all that mattered.

One day, however, they found out that not everyone who was involved knew what was going on. Temari, the sand ninja, had arrived in Konoha on official business, only to hear about a very recent sighting of Hinata and Shikamaru holding hands as they walked down the street togehter. Temari only saw red as she bounded after the couple. She found them laying in a field, cloud gazing. But they weren't alone. Chouji lay on the other side of Hinata, holding her other hand.

"What they hell's going on?" Temari demanded, gaining a lazy glance from Shikamaru, and two startled ones from Hinata and Chouji.

"Hey Temari-chan," Shikamaru yawned, letting go of Hinata's hand as he rose to embrace the sandnin. Temari stepped back and glared at the three ninjas.

"Don't hey me," she growled," I want to know what's going on."

"We're cloud gazing," Hinata answered innocently," Care to join us?"

"I'm not talking to you, Skank," Temari spit. This caused Hinata's eyes to widen in concern.

"Don't call Hinata-chan names," Chouji said, sitting up.

Temari ignored Chouji and Hinata and turned her anger fully onto Shikamaru. "I asked you a question." she hissed.

Shikamaru looked puzzled for a moment, "We're cloud gazing, like Hinata said," he answered causiously.

"And you're holding hands because..." she replied still glaring at the lazy ninja. She didn't like the look of comprehension that flooded his face just then. She also didn't like the self satisfied smirk that followed. Instead of answering her question, he did the stupidest thing the genius could have done.

He laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chouji and Hinata faced each other and nodded. They both knew that Shikamaru was going to die and that they would soon follow if they made any sudden movement. However they just had to know something before their friend died a slow and fanny death.

"You didn't tell her about Hinata?" Chouji asked, sounding astonished.

"What was he going to tell me about Hinata?" Temari asked, her glare never leaving the soon to be dead ninja.

"Ano... I like holding hands," Hinata began shakily, "I do it to show that I care."

Temari briefly stopped glaring at Shikamaru, in order to stare at Hinata. "So, it's not romantic?" Hinata shook her head. Temari seemed to relax a little at this, until she heard Shikamaru laughing still. "So, you didn't bother telling me that you had a friend who liked to hold your hand?" she asked sweetly.

Something in her tone must have warned him about his emanent doom, because he stopped laughing. "So?" he asked.

"We'll discuss this later," she assured him. "Sorry about calling you a skank," she offered Hinata as she turned around and made her way to the Hokage's office.

Shikamaru, no longer in the mood for cloud gazing went home. Presumabley to write his last will and testament. Hinata and Chouji lay back down to watch the clouds.

_-:-:-:-:-_

All the Rookie Nine, except for Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke, and Neji's team were sent to Suna to participate in the chuunin exams. Sakura was placed on Ino and Chouji's team for the exam, because you need to be in a three man team in order to compete. This was the second exam for all the Konoha ninjas who were participating and all the ninjas did not plan on failing.

They had all passed the cheating exam with flying colors, the only one not cheating was Sakura because she knew could figure out the questions on her own. They also made it through the survival test, with nary a scratch on them. Hinata's team were chatting with Ino's team, while wating for the last of the teams to make it to the goal, when she saw Temari and her brothers.

Due to the fact that they were no longer in Konoha and that this was technically a mission, Hinata wasn't holding anyones hand. This didn't bother her that much. She wasn't addicted to hand holding, she just liked doing it. So, she waved over Temari and her brothers followed.

"Temari-chan," Ino began, "I thought you would have been here sooner."

"We would have, but all the other teams were avoiding us," she complained, "Apparently Gaara is now infamous," she joked shooting a rye look at her brother.

"Tch," was Gaara's witty response to that. Hinata seemed to be the only one to realize that he looked a little sad at this. Having the byakugan comes in handy sometimes.

"Oi, Temari," Kankurou began. "Isn't she the one who tried to steal that shadow ninja of yours?" he pointed at Hinata as he spoke with a giant grin to his sister. Temari turned a bright red.

All the Konoha ninjas, except for Chouji, turned to Hinata in disbelief. "Why would you want Shikamaru?" Ino asked. This caused Temari to glare at Ino, for insulting her new playtoy.

"I-I don't want Shikamaru," Hinata blushed, "Shikamaru didn't tell her."

They immediately all sighed in realization at what had happened.

"For a genius," Kiba began, "he sure is stupid."

Hinata Hyuuga age 15.

Being a chuunin was difficult for Hinata. Her mission load almost seemed to double, and she had less time to herself. She would come home later then usual and have to start the next morning earlier then usual. She was also sent on more solo missions then she thought were necessary.

Mostly, she was beginning to miss the connections she had made when she started holding hands with people. The people she normally would hold hands with started dating, and didn't feel like holding hands with anyone but their special person.

Hinata began to notice that she was unhappy. She didn't laugh as often as she had and her stutter, which she had thought had gone away, came back with a vengence. Her father might have noticed her changed behavior, but because she was successfully completing mission after mission, he didn't mention it to her. Neji noticed, a little, but he was pre-occupied with joining the ANBU and didn't have time for her. Hanabi would have noticed, if Hinata were ever home.

The only people who said anything about it were Kiba and Shino. They still trained together even though the three were no longer a team technically. After training, Hinata could still be seen walking hand in hand with one or both of her ex-teammates. She still liked holding hands, but lately she had been feeling like there was something missing. She had stopped feeling tressured when she was 6 and now that she was 15 she stopped feeling protected. She now clung desperately to the feeling on love that she got from holding hands, and returning that love. But it wasn't enough.

_-:-:-:-:-_

The day Naruto returned, should have been the happiest day of her life. The boy she had idolized. It brought her hope that everything would turn out okay. Because whenever Naruto was around, she had felt stronger, even though she usually turned red and fainted whenever he came near her. Obviously she hoped that this time when she greeted him, that wouldn't happen.

Unfortunately, even though she hadn't even gotten that close to him, she fainted. Not because she was nervous to see him, but because she had recently been hit in the head with something heavy, causing her to black out momentarily.

When she opened her eyes, there was Naruto hovering over her. She could feel her cheeks turning the brightest color of red to date. She stuttered incoherently for a while and Naruto began to help her up, placing his hand on hers to lift her, but someone interrupted this and he went running off.

Hinata stared at her hand after he left. She had felt absolutely nothing. This worried her. It might have been because he had been gone for so long, but the loss of what she thought she would feel was hard on her. Quickly she grabbed Kiba's hand and took comfort in the feeling of love she got, but the lack of being tressured and protected seemed to gape wider then it had before.


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata stood on duty, hands clasped behind her back. She had been assigned as escort for the Kazekage when he arrived to view the third test of the chuunin exams. She waited patiently with the other escorts, Naruto and Shikamaru. When everyone became chuunin, the original three man genin teams were dismantled. In its place was a system of what seemed like "musical ninjas." The music played and when it stopped you were on a new three man team. She said that it was so you could be familiar with your teammates and their abilities, no matter who they are.

Hinata half listened to Naruto complain about how long they had been standing there. It had really only been about 10 minutes, but if you listened carefully to Naruto you thought it was more like 10 hours. Admittedly the day was rather hot, but they were standing in some shade. Shikamaru was leaning against the tree, just waiting quietly. He was probably anxious to see Temari again. They had been going out steadily sense the incident 2 years ago. Temari was now one of the people that Hinata would hold hands with when she was in town. Nothing like a misunderstanding to bring people together.

Naruto had seen Temari and Hinata walking down the street once. The first thing he asked was whether or not Shikamaru was man enough for Temari. Temari's response had had Hinata blushing for the rest of the day. Primarily because Naruto ran off and told everybody who would stay still long enough to listen just what had been said.

Hinata was slightly shaken out of her thoughts when she saw the Kazekage and his gaurds come through the gates of Konoha. Earlier it had been decided that Hinata would do the talking, because Naruto might embarass everyone and Shikamaru didn't want the task.

"Greetings Kazekage-sama," Hinata said formally, "and welcome to Konoha."

Gaara, the Kazekage, looked at her and nodded his greeting. Hinata was used to quiet people, having been teamed with Shino for many years, so she wasn't too disturbed by the minimal response. If he needed to say something, he would. So, she continued to smile warmly at him and those accompanying him.

"The third test won't take place until tomorrow, so there will be plenty of time for you to rest from your journey. We're here to show you to your lodgings and answer any questions that you might have. So if you'll just come this way..." with that she turned and lead the Kazekage and his gaurds through the city. Some gaurds asked about the latest gossip, which Naruto provided with relish, or about the contenders in the matches or where to find the good food.

When they reached the lodgings of the Kazekage, Gaara stopped the procession. He then nodded at two of his gaurd, who walked into the lodging first, to see if there were any traps. It hurt a little that he felt that this was necessary, but people tend to have long memories when it came to those who carried demons. While his gaurds were in the building, Hinata activated her Byakugan, just to triple check. Hinata was nothing if not thurough.

"Shikamaru," Hinata started, "There are two extra chakra patterns in the building."

Hinata continued to watch what was happening inside the building. The new chakra patterns moved closer to the gaurds that Gaara had sent in. Soon the four met in the room that Gaara was supposed to occupy. They seemed to stay there for a while, possibly talking. An exchange of some sort was made, and one of the gaurds placed something under the Kazekage's bed. Hinata relayed all this to Shikamaru, then deactivated her byakugan as the gaurds left the building.

"All clear Kazekage sama."


	4. Chapter 4

So sad that I still don't own Naruto.

Hinata looked at Gaara when the gaurds came out of the building. _He doesn't trust them, _she thought as she saw the Kazekage give the gaurds a skeptical look. Then another thought hit her, _How much does he know about the byakugan?_ He might have noticed the little confrence Hinata and Shikamaru were having before the gaurds returned.

She then turned to Shikamaru, waiting for him to come up with a genius solution on how to handle this delicate situation. He nodded at her unspoken request.

"Kage mane no jutsu," he said using his shadow to capture the gaurds in question. "Naruto, stay with the kazekage. Hinata, take Kankuro and find the thing that they left in his room," he barked.

"What's going on here?" demanded one of the gaurds. Gaara didn't look surprised at all.

Ignoring this Hinata turned to the puppet master. "Kankuro san, if you would just follow me." He turned to Gaara for permission. Gaara nodded and she lead Kankuro into the Kazekage's bedroom.

As they enetered the building, Hinata activated her byakugan, looking for the two other chakra patterns. She saw them, but they were faint. She made note of the directions they were going and turned her attention to the Kazekage's room. When they reached it Hinata lifted her hand to call a halt.

Focusing her chakra Hinata looked at the object under the bed. As far as she could tell, it was just a box. There was no chakra coming off of it like there would be if it were a ninja trap, and she couldn't see any warding notes on the box or even in the room.

"Kankuro san, there is a box under the bed. It doesn't look like a trap, but few traps look like traps. Do you want to see it before I remove it?" she offered this, so that there would be no accusations of sabatage later.

Kankuro nodded and made his way carefully to the bed. He knelt down and lifted the covers. When he looked back at Hinata, he looked puzzled.

"There's nothing here."

Hinata's byakugan was still activated, so she could still see the box. "It's right under the pillow." Kankuro looked again, then looked back and shook his head.

Hinata went to the bed and kneeled down. She peeked under the covers and looked at where the box was. It was still there, just a few inches to Kankuro's right. With a puzzled look on her face, she reached for the box, but where her hand should have met resistance, there was nothing but a tingling sensation. Hinata watched as her hand passed through the box.

"What are you doing?" Kankuro asked, watching her hand.

"My hand is going though the box," Hinata explained. _If it was made of chakra and only chakra it wouldn't have chakra coming off of it. _"It's a trap," she whispered looking into Kankuro's eyes. "We gotta get back outside."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please R&R.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Hinata threaded her way through the building, explaining her suspicions to Kankuro. "Be prepared for a genjutsu. That box under the bed was obviously set up for a Hyuuga. It was made of pure chackra, which is why you couldn't see it. My guess is they want to use a subtle illusion, so that they can sneak up on Gaara," she said all in one breath.

"What does that have to do with you being a Hyuuga?"

"Hyuuga's are immune to most genjutsu."

"So how did they know that you would be one of the escorts?"

"I don't know. I didn't even know that I was to be an escort until this morning. Tsunade sama keeps that kind of assignment quiet until the day of," they reached the door and Hinata motioned for Kankuro to get ready. He nodded, reaching for the wrap that surrounded his puppet.

Hinata reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out three shurikens. Even though a kunai would be better for hand-to-hand combat, Hinata had better aim with shurikens. She flung the door opened and expected to see the worst.

Happily she was disappointed. There was no genjutsu, no enemy ninjas sneaking up on the kazekage. In fact everything was just as she left it. Except that now everyone was looking at her as if she was crazy. Except for Gaara, who seemed to be smirking.

"T-this location has been c-compromised," she stuttered, trying to regain her composure. "I recommend that we retreat to another location. I will explain further when we reach a secure location."

Shikamaru nodded as he released the guards from his shadow hold. Before they could do anything, two Naruto's appeared behind them and tied them up.

"What should we do with them?" they asked, one of them tugging a rope a little too roughly. Everyone turned to Gaara.

"Take them with us," he said after a moment of silence.

"Where to?" Kankuro demanded.

"The Hokage's mansion?" Hinata suggested.

"No," Gaara said

"He's right," Shikamaru agreed. "It has to be someplace no one would expect. How about the Hyuuga complex?"

"No," Hinata said, "Whoever it is knows too much about the Hyuuga clan."

"What about your place?" Naruto asked Shikamaru. After some consideration Shikamaru nodded.

With that everyone made there way to the Nara household. They decided to make their way through the town, even though there was a lot of pre-tournament decorating. This would make it harder for an enemy ninja to track them or attack them.

As they threaded their way through the throngs of people, Hinata couldn't help but stare at Gaara. She didn't know why, but she felt that if she let him out of her sight, something very bad would happen.

Many years ago Hinata didn't pay attention to that feeling that something bad would happen. Something bad did happen and it wasn't just for her. All of Konoha paid the price of her neglect. Even though at the time, Hinata couldn't do anything about it, she still felt guilty. Then Sasuke left and took her inspiration with him. From that day forward Hinata had decided to pay attention to what she was feeling and follow up on that feeling.

'He knows I'm watching him,' Hinata thought. She could tell by the way he smirked at her when they made eye contact. It was no different from his normal smirk, but this one felt special. Like it was just for her that he was even moving his facial muscles.

'If I weren't on duty, I'd offer him my hand,' she thought to herself. She felt a surprised flush spread across her face when she finished this thought. She was surprised because the last new person that she had offered her hand to had been Naruto, and that had turned out _so _well.

Finally they reached the Nara home. Carefully they made their way into the house. It was a big house with a large yard, like the Hyuuga compound, but there was were the similarities ended. The Nara household felt lived in, where as the Hyuuga compound was just a place that people slept and ate. The furniture was worn with age, but it was clean and sturdy.

Mrs. Nara hurried into the living room when Shikamaru announced their presence. When she saw who else was with her son, her eyes widened and her mouth began to open and close, like she wanted to talk, but the words got lost on the way out of her mouth.

"Hey Mom," Shikamaru said, "Mind if we crash here for a while?"

"O-of course," she stuttered breaking the trance their appearance had caused, "The Kazekage is always welcome in my home."

"Thank you for your understanding," Temari said warmly to her boyfriend's mother. The two of them got along fine together, as long as Shikamaru kept his mouth shut.

"Not at all. Can I get anyone anything to drink?" After she took their orders she left and the ninjas settled in.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto. Enjoy.

Hinata took a deep breath as her gaze made its way around the group. They had stationed themselves in one of the Nara guest rooms. Shikamaru leaned lazily against the wall next to the window, keeping an eye out for enemies. Temari sat next to him and even though they weren't touching, Hinata could still feel a connection between the two. She stifled an envious sigh at the sight. Naruto stood by the door across the room from the couple. He leaned against the doorjamb, looking really bored. Finally Hinata eyes found Gaara. He stood with his back to a wall, arms crossed over his chest. When their eyes met, he smirked a little but for the most part looked impatient for her to start. Kankurou was in another room, with the guards that they had detained, interrogating them.

'Start with the worst news first and go from there.' "I think that the mission has been compromised," Naruto gasped from thee door way at this news. "I think that whoever put that object under the Kazekage-sama's bed knew that there was a Hyuuga on the mission."

"Why do you think that?" Naruto demanded.

"When I first saw the object, I could only see chackra through the wall. So, I thought that it might be a trap for the Kazekage. But when I got there I was the only one who could see it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked scratching his head, "I've seen chackra before. Why couldn't Kankurou?"

Hinata sighed and quickly pulled down a screen that had several diagrams of people using chackra. "When chackra is used outside of the body it can usually be seen by other, like with Kakashi sensei's chidori or your rasengan," she explained to Naruto, even though everyone else was paying attention, "But there are some people who can mask their chackra when it leaves the body. Normally this is used as a meditative exercise, to work on chackra control. Just like when chackra is used within the body, people can't see the masked chackra unless they have the ability to do so, like with my families bloodline limit." She then jerked the screen down and it went sliding back into wherever it came from.

"So, why couldn't you tell that it was a masked chackra instead of a trap?" Shikamaru asked

"Well," she hesitated here a little. 'How do I explain this?' "With the byakugan, any chackra that leaves the body all looks the same. There are a few exceptions, like demon chackra," Hinata noticed Gaara and Naruto wince at this, "but for the most part chackra is chackra. The only reason that I knew that it wasn't normal chackra was when Kankuro couldn't see it. I had to deactivate my byakugan to confirm it though."

"Why is that important?" Naruto asked.

"Well only a Hyuuga would be able see the object. I thought at the time that the object was supposed to distract me so that the enemy could sneak up on you guys and maybe use a genjutsu."

"Why a genjutsu?" Temari asked.

"Hyuuga's are immune to most genjutsus."

"Why would they make such an elaborate plan to get Gaara that revolved around you and your abilities?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"I-I don't know," Hinata stuttered. 'I thought that I knew what was going on. What if I'm wrong and nothing was going to happen,' "T-the only thing that I could think about was that maybe it was because I'm most likely to be the first to see any danger that would happen?" She hadn't meant to make her answer a question, but she wasn't feeling so secure anymore.

"Why is it such a big deal that they would know that a Hyuuga was on the mission?" Gaara spoke up for the first time.

"W-well currently there are only three Hyuuga clan members who are ninjas. That would be myself, Neji-nisan, and my little sister Hanabi. So the likely hood of a Hyuuga being on the team was slim. That and I didn't know that I was going to be on this mission until this morning when we met in Tusnade-sama's office."

"Huh?" Shikamaru and Naruto asked in unison.

"W-what?" 'Did I say something wrong?'

"…We were told that you had volunteered to be on this mission when we heard about it last week," Shikamaru explained.


	7. Chapter 7

Hinata stared up at the moon from her spot by the window. It was big and full and orange. If they hadn't been in the middle of the city, she could have seen more stars, but the few that were out were shining as though they were trying to compete with the moon for attention.

Almost out of habit she started the rhyming, "Star light, star bright first star I see tonight. I wish I may I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." She smiled a little when she finished the rhyme. 'Now what to wish for?' she thought idly.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind her. She turned slightly, to look out the corner of her eye at the source. It was Gaara; he had opened the door and was now leaning casually against the doorjamb.

Hinata smiled gently at him in greeting, then turned her attention back to the window. She didn't even try ignoring him, but she knew that he would say something when he was ready. She also knew that he wouldn't appreciate her staring at him while he stayed silent.

"You aren't afraid of me," it was said as a statement, but Hinata knew that it was the closest he would come to asking that question.

She smiled again and looked at him. "I'm used to being around people that are stronger then me," she said simply.

He was silent for a while, "You used to be afraid of me."

Hinata didn't bother answering that. Everybody used to be afraid of him, and he knew it. He had been powerful and full of pain, but then he met someone like him, and even though he remained powerful there was just something about him now that didn't scare her. She was aware that he could crush her with a thought, but she knew that he wouldn't.

There was a long silence, that wasn't quite awkward, but not really comfortable either. Hinata didn't know how to break it, or even if she wanted to. So, she decided to follow Gaara's lead.

"How did you find out about the demon's chackra?" He asked.

"I had never seen true demon chackra until the third round of the chuunin exams. After Neji-nisan had plugged up all of Naruto's chackra points in their battle, Naruto tapped into his demon chackra. At the time I didn't know that though, so I did some research in the family library," she blushed a little, 'Do I mention that he has demon chackra?'

"I know you saw me go against those three rain ninjas in the forest of death," he stated.

"Hn," Hinata said non-commitedly, "But your chackra rarely leaves your body, unless it's mixed with your sand. It wasn't until the second chuunin exams that I looked at you with my byakugan activated."

"When?" he sounded a little startled at this, which caused Hinata to giggle slightly.

"You were sitting between me and the person who had the answers during the first test. Your chackra is different from Naruto's. Well the way his chackra used to be," she said as a way of explanation. He raised one of his hairless eyebrows at her. "Naruto's chackra used to be distinctly human or distinctly demon. He didn't mix the two together."

"What does it look like now?" he asked simply.

" I don't know. I have heard that he has been tapping into the kyuubi more often, but I haven't looked. I imagine that it looks a little more like yours now."

"What does mine look like?"

"Yours is red, with streaks of blue in it, or at least it was two years ago," she blushed a little at this. 'Why is he so interested in this?' she thought as yet another moment of silence took place. This one was a little more awkward then the other one, but still not so uncomfortable that she wanted to break it.

"Why did you stop holding hands?" he asked rather abruptly.

Hinata was taken aback, 'How did we get from demon chackra to holding hands?' For a while she didn't answer, but he didn't back away either. "Huh? I didn't stop… I-I just don't do it as often as I used to," she trailed off a little at this.

"Why?"

"P-people stopped wanting to hold hands with me. They got their special people, and then they didn't have time for me anymore." She knew that she sounded a little pathetic at this. 'Everyone has been lonely at some point in their life, it's just my turn now.' "Bu-but I'm glad that they found their special people. I'm glad that they can be happy."

"Why did you start?"

"I-I needed to," she whispered, "When Sasuke and Naruto left the village, everyone was effected. I could feel people pulling away from each other, distancing themselves because they didn't want to be hurt. I-I couldn't let that happen again," her voice broke a little at this, "I did what I had to do because I needed to let people know that I cared. That they wouldn't be alone. But mostly I did it for myself, so that I wouldn't be alone anymore." She turned her face away from Gaara then, because she knew that if she looked at him now she would start to cry. A ninja doesn't let their emotions show, especially when they are on duty.

Gaara didn't leave, but he didn't try to start a conversation again. Once Hinata had gotten her emotions a little under control, she looked back at Gaara. He was still standing by the door, but he was no longer leaning. In fact he looked like he wanted to move further into the room, but wasn't sure about his welcome. They were separated by the space of the room, but it felt like they were getting closer and closer.

Hinata sighed and stood up. She made her way to the door, and stood right in front of Gaara. She bit her lip as she looked up at him. 'When did he get so tall?' she wondered idly. This was the closest she had ever been to him before.

Slowly, hesitantly, she lifted her hand to him. She could feel her cheeks heating up and she fought the urge to lower her eyes from his. Instead she looked into his eyes as what she was doing dawned on him. Hinata could hear her heart beat in her ears, beating so loudly that it was practically drowning out all other sounds.

'I wonder if he knows how important his answer is?' she asked herself as she waited.


	8. Chapter 8

Don't own Naruto (. Enjoy )

'He isn't doing anything!' Hinata thought. This worried her, but she wasn't about to let him know that. 'If he doesn't move in another minute, I'll just back away and act like nothing happened.' With that plan firmly in mind, she kept her eyes on his.

Her plan would have gone off perfectly too, if it weren't for the enemy ninja that she saw out the window. One of the great things about being a Hyuuga is having a 360-degree view of the world. She watched him as he made a throwing motion, but didn't see what it was that he threw. 'Probably a kunai,' she thought as she started to move.

She heard the glass of the window break as she started pushing Gaara out of the way. They hit the ground hard, Hinata was on top, to protect the vital organs of the Kazekage. She looked up as she heard a thunk and saw a kunai sticking out of the wall, with an explosive tag connected to it.

Her eyes widened in horror as she realized that she didn't have time to get her and Gaara out of the way before it went off. She lunged forward, covering Gaara's head with her chest and hunkered down, covering her own head with her arms.

'This is going to hurt,' she thought as squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the explosion. She blinked in confusion when she heard it go off, but didn't feel the heat of flaming debris hit her exposed back. She opened her eyes slowly, and saw a wall of dirt hanging over the back of her head.

'He saved me!' she thought, blushing with pleasure. Admittedly she probably wouldn't have died because of the explosion, but it would have hurt a lot and she hadn't been looking forward to it.

She looked down into Gaara's face, which was partially concealed by Hinata's chest. Really all she could see was his forehead, eyes, and the bridge of his nose. She sat up quickly; completely embarrassed now that the situation was over with at the position she had put him in.

"T-Thank you for saving me," she stuttered, not looking at his face.

"My pleasure," he responded. Hinata looked up quickly eyes wide. 'Did he just say what I thought he said?' Gaara was smirking, but that didn't prove anything.

Temari, Kankuro, and Naruto came bursting through what was left of the door. Shikamaru was probably still with the detainees, making sure that they didn't escape. They had been interrogated, under a trust jutsu, and it had been revealed that they had been hypnotized. They didn't remember what the person who placed the chackra under the Kazekage's bed had looked like. They could only remember a vague notion of maids. Pretty but not too pretty maids, who were still cleaning the rooms.

Naruto didn't even stop to see if everything was all right, he just pushed past the siblings and was out the window in a flash. Temari knelt down next to them however to make sure that they were all right. When they told her what had happened, she seemed a little surprised to hear that Gaara had protected Hinata from the sand. In fact, she seemed surprised that the sound had even allowed Hinata to push Gaara down to begin with.

"I tried that once when we were little, and the sand threw me away," she explained later. Apparently this was the time that Kankuro had been experimenting with explosive tags, and one went sailing towards a 10 year old Gaara.

In all the confusion, Hinata had completely forgotten all about the fact that Gaara had never responded to her unasked question from earlier. It wasn't until well after Naruto had returned empty handed, and they had debriefed again. In fact she was settling down to sleep when the thought struck her.

She was very tempted to get back up and go to him. It was something that she didn't want to put off, but she was reminded that she was on duty when the incident happened. 'I'll just ask him tomorrow, after the tournament,' she thought, snuggling down into her covers.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, Hinata woke up early. It wasn't until she had finished her stretching that she noticed how sore she was. 'Gotta brush up on my falling,' she thought to herself as she winced.

She stood up and started her morning stretches. This helped with the soreness a lot. In fact, by the time she was dressed and ready for breakfast, she couldn't even feel where she had fallen wrong.

She made her way quickly into the main room, where everyone was waiting for her. They huddled around the table, each gripping a mug of some sort of hot beverage. None of them looked happy to be there. 'Poor me,' she thought ironically, ' The only morning person in the midst of grumpy people.' She had to admit though that a small mischievous part of her wanted to be extra happy just to annoy everyone. She stifled it though; she was mischievous, not suicidal.

Instead she grabbed a mug and poured some tea into it. Then she made her way to the table and sat in the closest available seat. Which was wedged between Naruto and Gaara. She tried to ignore the fact that she could feel her thigh pressed up against Gaara's, but it was a little difficult, mostly because her cheeks were turning an interesting shade of red.

"Hey, Hinata," Temari said, "You're turning almost as red as Gaara's hair. You okay?"

"Hn," she nodded, not trusting herself to not stutter like a fool. 'I thought I had gotten over this when I got over Naruto,' she thought feeling even more embarrassed.

"She does this all the time," Naruto boasted, "I'm surprised she hasn't fainted yet."

"N-Naruto kun!" Hinata shrieked. She knew she was reverting back to behaviors that she didn't like, but was powerless to stop it. She took some deep breaths, and with shaking hands brought the cup to her lips.

Silence reined over the table as everyone finished their breakfast, provided by Mrs. Nara. It was good and filling, so it met all the requirements of a ninja meal. Everyone checked the clock, 8:00AM. They had two hours until the tournament started.

"Here's the plan," Shikamaru started after his mother had cleared the dishes, "We take Gaara to the Hokage's mansion."

"We can't do that. The mission was compromised and we don't know who the spy is," Temari objected.

"Exactly," he said. "We don't know if the leak is in the Hokage's office or from the Hyuuga compound. In fact we don't even know if the attacks are directed at Gaara."

"What do you mean?" Naruto shouted, "Of course the attacks are for Gaara! Who else would they be for?"

"Hinata," Gaara answered. Everyone was silent.

"Who would want to hurt Hinata?" Naruto asked confused.

"Do I really have to explain this?" Shikamaru asked, more to himself then anyone else. "There are several reasons someone would want to hurt Hinata. Maybe even more then the reasons people would want to hurt Gaara. First she's a Hyuuga. Which means that someone might want the Byakugan. Second, she's the heir, which means people may want the revenge against or control over the Hyuuga clan."

"Why'd you even think of Hinata as a target?" Naruto asked.

"She was attacked," Shikamaru said slowly.

"B-but that could have been for Gaara" Hinata stuttered.

"You said they aimed for your blind spot. It's just as likely that the attack was for you," he explained.

"What does any of this have to do with going to the Hokage's mansion?" Temari asked impatiently. She had probably already heard this theory before.

"We go there and talk directly to Tsunade-sama. With no one else in the room. This way she'll know what to expect if something bad happens. Then, we continue with the mission, only we add Hinata to the list,"

"So, basically our plan is to wait for another attack, guard against it, then keep going as if there were nothing wrong?" Kankuro asked sarcastically.

"Whoever is behind this will reveal themselves before you guys go home. His or her window of opportunity is narrowing and once you leave, the plan is ruined."

"I don't like waiting," Naruto complained. Everyone ignored him as they sat contemplating the plan. Silently they all stood up at once, said their thank yous to Mrs. Nara, and made there way to the Hokage's mansion.


	9. Chapter 9

Don't own Naruto, but hope you enjoy the story. P

Hinata sat next to Gaara on the couch in front of Tsunade sama's office. Naruto and Kankurou were standing on the left and Shikamaru and Temari were on the right. The walk from the Nara household had been uneventful, but still nerve wracking.

It was taking all of the patience Hinata had, and she has a lot of patience, to sit quietly. She felt the need to pace, which was unusual because normally she was a very still person. 'Of course this is the first time that I've ever known about being a possible target,' she thought wryly to herself.

Instead she watched, half hypnotized, as Naruto's foot shook up and down. Just when she thought she was going to scream to relieve some of her nervous energy, Shizune poked her head out of the Hokage's door.

"She will see you now," she informed them as she opened the door wider, to allow them in. They all trudged in silently, and waited for her to leave the room. She did, closing the door softly behind her. The second she did, Hinata activated her byakugan, and looked for listening devices. She nodded when she didn't see anything.

"What's this all about?" Tsunadesama demanded. "You barge in here and demand a meeting, and then don't give me any explanation?"

Shikamaru took a deep breath before he started. "We suspect that the mission has been compromised," and he proceeded to explain about all the happenings of the last evening.

The Hokage looked bored at the news, "So? What do you want me to do about it?"

Shikamaru must have been expecting a reaction like this, even though Hinata was surprised. 'She's never done that to me.' "We expect you to do nothing," he shrugged. "We're just here to warn you that something's going down, and that you might get caught in the cross fire. Most likely it's going to happen during the tournament."

"Hn," she nodded in acknowledgment, then turned to a stack of papers on her desk. This was clearly a dismissal.

"Now what?" Naruto shouted as they left the Hokage mansion.

"We go to the tournament and keep our guard up," Temari informed him.

The trip from the mansion was very stressful. There was a large crowd of people going in multiple directions, clogging the streets of Konoha and making it difficult for the six ninja to stay as a group.

Unspokenly they started forming three separate groups. Temari and Shikamaru were leading the way. Followed shortly by Hinata and Gaara. Naruto and Kankuro brought up the rear. Defensively it wasn't the best possible situation, but they had to make due.

During one particularly strong wave of people, Hinata could feel herself separating from Gaara. Desperately she lunged forward and grabbed onto the back of his shirt. Or she would have, except that sand got in the way and grabbed her hand instead.

Its grip was tight, but not crushing. It was kind of nice, in a weird grainy way. It was warm too, and Hinata blanched a little when she remembered the scene in the Forest of Death almost 4 years ago. 'Kiba said that the sand smelled like blood,' she thought, and then tried to suppress that memory.

'He is a different person then he was back then,' she lectured herself firmly. The wave of people subsided, and the sand released her hand. Hinata made sure that no one could hear the whimper of disappointment she made unconsciously.

She scrambled so that she was closer to Gaara, so that if another wave of people came they wouldn't be separated. She got a little too close though, and her hand bumped into his. She gasped, not because the impact hurt, but because there was a spark that just jumped up her arm and strait into her chest, and no it wasn't a heart attack, she checked.

'That was nice.' She thought to herself. 'Hopefully it'll be that way when no one is trying to kill us,' and then added, because she's always honest with herself, 'that we know of.'

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Nothing had happened on the way to the coliseum. Or as they waited to make their entrance. In fact, they were on the last fight, and nothing bad had happened what so ever. Hinata didn't relax though. She had had a bad feeling sense this morning, that hadn't gone away. 'Something's going to happen,' she thought as she scanned the crowd for the millionth time.

She actually almost missed it. Thank goodness for the byakugn. It wasn't someone in the crowd but rather a guard for one of the visiting Kages. This year there were ninjas participating from four countries, Fire, Wind, Star, and Snow.

The guard that had caught her eye had a very familiar chackra pattern. It was like one of the ones that had put the box under Gaara's bed, but what had really caught her attention were his white eyes. 'I don't recognize him,' she thought, noting that he had a Konoha forehead protector wrapped around his head.

She nudged Shikamaru and nodded towards the guard. "What's up?" he asked.

"That's one of the guys. Do you recognize him?" she asked.

"Nope. Looks like a Hyuuga though," he muttered.

"Which would explain a lot," Hinata mused, "but I know everyone in the clan. He's not in it."

"I'll send Naruto to investigate," he said, and then went to talk to Naruto. It was between fights, so things were a little more lax. It wouldn't be too weird if Naruto went to talk to that ninja. Plus, Naruto had a weird gift of either annoying people so much that they told him what he wanted to know to get rid of him, or befriending them so they tell him what he wants to know because they like him. Either way, he got things done.

Hinata felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Something was going to happen, and it was happening now!


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Naruto.

Hinata was crouched in a defensive stance before her mind had even come close to processing what was happening. By the time her mind had caught up to her body, she was blocking several attacks from the "Hyuuga" guard.

He had started by throwing several kunai and shurikan at her. While she was deflecting these, he quickly followed suit by launching himself at her. She dodged him and spun to face him. They stood about 10 feet apart, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Finally he assumed the opening position in the gentle fist style. Hinata's eyes widened because it was such a familiar move. Not just that this stranger knew her fighting style, but because she recognized whose fighting style it was.

"Neji niisan," she accused, because that was her cousin's stance. It's true that every Hyyuga uses the same fighting style, but each individual Hyuuga added their own twist to it.

Neji's eyes widened at her accusation, but soon they were narrowed again. He didn't deny the accusation though. Instead he lunged forward, using the gentle fist against her.

Hinata knew she was in trouble. Over the three years sense her battle, her gentle fist style had improved, but so had Neji's. What she had to do was integrate some of the other forms of taijutsu into her family's style, and hope that it would work.

Another thing for Hinata to worry about was that at the age of 13 Neji had mastered the use of tenketsu, which is a painful process to be the recipient of. Although Hinata had memorized where they are on the body, she had yet to hit all of them on a moving target.

But Hinata had one thing that Neji didn't. She had some practice with Shikamaru and was therefore familiar with how his Kagemane no jutsu worked. She saw Neji's eyes widen when he realized that he could no longer move.

Hinata moved quickly, making sure to avoid Shikamaru's shadow, and hit a pressure point on his neck, rendering him unconscious. He slumped forward, or as forward as he could under the control of Shikamaru's shadow.

Neji was released suddenly, falling forward at a rapid pace. Good thing Hinata was there to keep him from eating concrete. She took some rope out of her pack, and tied him up, then left him leaning against a wall. His henge had dissipated once she had hit the pressure point.

During their short battle, Hinata had noticed that he was the only one to attack. 'That's odd,' she thought as she examined her feeling of impending doom. 'It's supposed to be something bigger then just Neji niisan attacking me.'

She glanced over at Gaara, who was still sitting in his chair. He looked calm, like there wasn't a problem in the world. In fact everyone with the exception of Shikamaru and herself looked as though nothing had even happened. They were all staring at an empty field, presumably waiting for the last fight to begin.

There was no movement at all, with the exception of Shikamaru, and then one by one, everyone started to slump. She first noticed it with Gaara, who was one moment sitting up strait and the next, sliding to the side, his head hanging grotesquely from his neck.

"Shikamaru kun," she said quietly, hoping that the genius had some idea of what was going on. There was no answer. Hinata swung her head around to look at him, and was relieved to note that he was crouched on the ground, assuming his thinking position.

While he was thinking, Hinata decided to do some experimenting. She gathered chackra into her fingers, and tapped Gaara's shoulder. If he were under a genjutsu he would have woken up. Nothing happened. She tried this with several other people, and the same result happened.

"Shikamaru kun," she called out, "I'm going down on the field. Keep an eye on Neji niisan," then before he could acknowledge her order, she hopped off the platform and landed daintily in the arena.

She kept her byakugan activated, even though the only active chackra circulatory systems belonged herself and Shikamaru's. Nothing happened. Nothing happened when she investigated the waiting platform that the potential chuunin's used. Nothing happened as she moved her way through the unconscious audience members. Nothing happened when she met back with Shikamaru to report her findings.

"We're the only two people awake," she reported, "there is no movement and no active chackra systems, which would suggest that people were awake."

"Have you tried waking anyone up?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, I thought I should see if there was any danger before I tried that." Shikamaru nodded in understanding.

Hinata walked over to Gaara. If this was a normal genjutsu, all she would have to do was send some chackra into his system and he would wake up. If this were an unusual genjutsu… she would have to deal with that as she went her way.

She closed her eyes and gathered chackra to her fingers. 'Now' she thought as she felt them begin to tingle. Quickly she tapped Gaara on the forehead, almost fearful of a wall of sand rising to protect the Kazekage.

"Nothing happened," Shikamaru said. He was kneeling next to Temari, and had obviously tried to rouse the vivacious blonde. Hinata nodded. A thought was nagging at the back of Hinata's brain.

"Ne, Shikamaru?" she started slowly, letting the thought fill her head. "What if they aren't the ones under a genjutsu?"

Shikamaru nodded, his genius brain filling in the rest of the conversation. "So, how was Neji the trigger?" he asked, skipping several steps in the conversation and making Hinata's brow furrow as her mind scrambled to keep up.

"…Well, we might be able to ask him," she said after a few minutes.


	11. Chapter 11

Hinata was torn. She had a mini Hinata on each shoulder, telling her what to do. The Hinata in the flowing robes with a yellow ring perched over her head was telling her to gently nudge Neji-niisan awake, and beat him senseless so that she could gently nudge him awake again. The Hinata dressed in tight black clothing with tiny red horns poking out of her hair, told her to kick Neji-niisan in the ribs until she heard a snap.

Hinata was torn because she was trying to decide if she should listen to either of them, or do the right thing and wake him up to interrogate him properly. She decided to do her duty, even though the mini Hinata's made compelling arguments.

"Nii-san," she said, shaking him awake and cringing for allowing such familiarity between herself and the prisoner. "We need to talk." She got no response. Gently she kicked his ribs, which also got no response. She kicked him a little harder, which got her a grunt, but nothing else.

'I hate doing this,' she thought to herself as she performed the hand signals to activate his seal. It was a specific jutsu that was used to wake branch family members up, no matter what, in case of attack. It was a fail proof jutsu that had even been known to work in a genjutsu.

"Shikamaru-kun," Hinata called out.

"What?" Shikamaru snapped. Hinata cringed a little at his tone. Even though she was used to being snapped out, she never liked I when it happened.

"This isn't Neji-niisan. Or any Hyuuga for that matter," she stated simply.

"You used the byakugan on him. Why didn't you know that?" Shikamaru snapped.

"The byakugan can only show through _things_, and inside of people. Which means, that when I look at a person I can see their chackra system, but not what kind of underwear they're wearing. When I look at someone using a henge, I can see the chackra system of the person, not the person himself or herself," she explained, getting a little agitated by his tone.

"So, why'd you think he was Neji?" Shikamaru asked. He must have sensed that she was getting annoyed; because he asked his question far more politely then he had asked the other questions.

"I knew that it was a genjutsu, because the attacker was a Hyuuga I had never seen before. There are no Hyuugas outside of Konoha. When he engaged me at first, he used standard ninja moves, but soon he assumed the opening move of gentle fist. Which confirmed that whoever was attacking was a Hyuuga, but more then that, he used Neji-niisan's style," Hinata explained simply.

"What do you mean by style?"

"…Um… well… each form of taijutsu is different right?" she asked. Shikamaru nodded, "Well, each person's execution of that taijutsu is different as well. I'm very familiar with Neji-niisan's style, because I spar with him a lot. That's why I thought he," gestures to the unconscious form of the nameless "Hyuuga," "was niisan."

"So how did he mimic Neji's style?" Shikamaru asked.

"… I don't know… The only person I ever heard about doing something like that was Kakashi-sensei, and that was only after he got the sharingan," Hinata sounded insecure.

"An Uchiha?" Shikamaru sounded incredulous.

"Possibly," Hinata said, "It would have to be Sasuke-san though. Itachi-san was taller then Neji-niisan is now when he left. Kakashi-sensei is far taller then Neji-niisan. This means that the chackra system wouldn't fit into the henge, and I would have known that it wasn't niisan."

"Well, I know the one thing that will wake Sasuke up," Shikamaru said, looking slightly afraid. He did the necessary hand gestures, and shouted, "Henge." There was a puff of smoke and Ino-chan stood in front of her. But it wasn't Ino-chan, as Hinata knew her today. It was 12-year-old Ino-chan. "Turn into Sakura-chan."

Hinata nodded and started the hand signals. She followed Shikamaru's lead and changed into the Sakura she knew three years ago. Long hair and all.

Shikamaru got on one side of Sasuke and Hinata got onto the other side. Holding up three fingers, Shikamaru counted backwards silently. "Three, two, one…SASUKE-KUN!" They shouted in unison, before launching themselves at the boy.

The last thing that Hinata saw before she blacked out was the panicked look in Sasuke's eyes as they snapped open, Sharingan flashing.

Hinata blinked several times, trying to make all the blurred objects clear again. One of the objects was pale, with two black circles, and was topped of by red. It seemed to be talking to her, but her ears were ringing, making it difficult to hear anything. After blinking several times, and seeing no visible difference, Hinata decided that the best thing to do would be smile at the red-topped pale object, and explain that she couldn't understand it.

Apparently this was the right thing to do, because the object stopped talking, and smiled? 'Hmm… objects don't smile. Only people smile. Weird.' Hinata went to sleep, the smile she gave "the object" still on her lips.


	12. Chapter 12

Hinata's eyes slowly parted as she greeted the waking world. At first she was pleased to note that the blurriness had gone away, and that she could see clearly. Of course she wasn't so happy to discover that she was in the hospital, wearing a hospital gown, instead of at the stadium wearing her ninja attire.

This had happened to her before, actually it happened to every ninja, but she never liked it. The sensation of knowing that someone had taken her clothing off and put her in something else without waking her up always disturbed her. It reminded her of the days when everyone wroter her off as weak.

Cautiously she moved her head to the side. There in the bed next to her was Shikamaru. 'Weird,' she thought to herself, 'I thought that they didn't do co-ed hospital rooms.' Temari was sitting next to his bed, looking very worried. Her back was to Hinata.

"Psst," Hinata hissed at Temari to get her attention. Temari spun around, trying to cover the fact that she had been caught off guard. Hinata giggled slightly and motioned her closer. Temari leaned in closer, probably assuming that Hinata's throat was sore. "He's faking it," Hinata whispered just loud enough for Shikamaru to hear. His eyebrow twitched slightly, confirming her accusation.

Temari laughed a little, then smirked. It was kind of weird that it reminded Hinata of Gaara. "I know," whispered back, causing Shikamaru's eyes to snap open in shock.

"Man," Shikamaru muttered, "I was having a good nap too." He didn't seem to upset though after Temari turned around again and started giving him attention. Hinata sighed to herself out of jealousy. She liked seeing her friends with people who make them happy, she just didn't like how lonely it made her feel sometimes.

Gingerly, Hinata sat up. She didn't start feeling dizzy, so she swung her legs over the side of her bed. It was then that she noticed the difficulty she was going to have. The hospital gown she was wearing had no back. Well, it probably did, but only the top of the gown was tied, leaving her entire backside exposed for anyone to see.

Her face immediately heated up, and she slammed her back down onto the bed. Her eyes were wide, as she stared unseeingly at the ceiling. Temari and Shikamaru looked over at her curiously.

Gaara walked through the door to the room, shattering the awkward atmosphere of the room, with an even more awkward atmosphere. He stood at the door, looking quizzically at his sister and Shikamaru, who were staring at Hinata. Then he turned his attention to the madly blushing Hinata.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked the room in general, and Hinata specifically.

"G-gaara!" Hinata squeaked out. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you," he informed her.

"Oh," Hinata said, at a loss for words, "Th-thankyou." Then she lay back in her bed so that her back was covered.

"Weren't you just about to get up?" Temari asked her.

"Ah, um," Hinata explained. Her mind was racing. 'How do I address this delicately?'

Shikamaru sat up a little in his bed, to get a better look at Hinata, when his eyes widened in comprehension. He probably wasn't as shy as she was, but he understood what she might be going through.

"Hey Sweety," he addressed Temari, they were off duty now, and could be more relaxed in their dealings with each other. There was no reason for them to be coolly professional with each other, "Maybe hinata might like some privacy."

Temari nodded, as comprehension hit her. Then she stood and pulled the curtain between Hinata's bed and Shikamaru's. Hinata smiled at her greatfully before she got off the bed and found her clothes, folded in the seat next to her bed neatly. She glanced cautiously at the curtain, before she removed her gown completely, and started putting her clothes on.

She poked her head out from behind the curtain before she stepped out, fully dressed, and bright red. It didn't matter that they couldn't see her when she was behind the curtain, she had still been naked in the same room as men.

She got suspiscious, when no one made eye contact with her for a while. When it came to Shikamaru and Temari, it was almost understandable. They looked like they were in deep discussion about something, but whenever they glanced at her, they quickly moved their gazes. It was Gaara that really made her aware that something was up. He was staring fixedly at the ground, and his cheeks looked decidedly flushed.

"So, how is everything?" she asked slowly, watching his reaction. No one responded. Finally, Hinata looked behind her, at the curtain she had been behind. That's when she noticed that light had been streaming through the window, making the shadows of the furniture very clear.

Her eyes widened in embarrassment. She looked back at Gaara, and he met her eyes this time. She could feel a fainting spell creep up on her, and fought it for all she was worth. She barely managed, but she did, and grinned in triumph. Which apparently caused Gaara's blush to deepen.

She cleared her throat, and tried to sound athoratative, "So, what happened while we were out cold?" she questioned. Anything to distract from the fact that Gaara had pretty much seen her naked, as well as Shikamaru and Temari.

"Sasuke was also out cold, so they placed him under armed guard. I actually came in to check that you were okay, because he just woke up and the Hokage wanted to question him. The current theory is that he was after Hinata to add the byakugan to Orochimaru's abilities. Most likely through forced breeding," Hinata gasped at his words.

"What about the theory that he might be after you," Temari questioned, "so that he could harness the power of Shukaku?"

Gaara shook his head. "That one isn't quite as popular as the other, because most of the assaults were geared towards a Hyuuga, and not myself. Also, Orochimaru left Akatsuki because of their plans to harness demon power. He's a great believer in inner strength."

"But how did he fix it so that Hinata was on the mission?" Shikamaru questioned.

"That's one of the things that Tsunade is going to ask him about," Gaara answered.

Hinata absorbed all this with out saying a word. It seemed as though everything had been wrapped up well, except there was something bugging her. Finally it hit her.

"Do they know what kind of genjutsu he used?"

"Kurenai said that it was a standard genjutsu, and that he wasn't the one using it. Instead, it was placed on him, and set to trigger when he lost consciouness. Anyone who was connected to him would be pulled in."

"So, they weren't trying to get Shikamaru," she stated, feeling a cold shiver of dread go up and down her spine. 'It's true. They were trying to get me.' Her mind refused to contemplate what they would do after that. Gaara shook his head.

Silence engulfed the room. No one really knew what to say about the subject, and changing the subject too abruptly would be obvious, and rude. Finally Shikamaru did his duty as the smart ass.

"So, now that you're dressed, why don't you leave me in private so I can keep my modesty?" he grumbled, shooting a significant glance at his girlfriend.

"What modesty?" Temari shot back, taking his cue for what it was. They began to good naturedly argue, making it just a little awkward for the other two in the room. Each felt like a third wheel, even though there were four people in the room.

"I think we should leave them alone," Hinata said unnecessarily. Gaara nodded, and opened the door for her. They made their way halfway down the hall before Sakura came charging after them. Hinata and Gaara turned around to watch her.

"Hinata!" she panted, "You can't leave yet. You still have to check out."

"That's where we were going Sakura," Hinata replied, looking worried. The amount of energy that Sakura put into running after them didn't match up with her message. "Why did you run after us?"

"I just went into the room that you and Shikamaru were sharing, and I walked in on Temari and Shikamaru making out!" she practically shouted this, and several people in the hall looked back at the hyperventilating girl.

Gaara's eye twitched and he stared at the door they had just left. Hinata could feel as each of his muscles tensed, one by one. He looked incredibly dangerous just now, and Hinata tried to suppress a shudder as she imagined the thoughts going through his head. Most likely they involved maiming Shikamary to such an extent that he was going to wish he were dead.

"Gaara," she said quietly, trying to break his concentration on the door. He acknowledged her existence, but that was it. "Would you escort me to the nurse's station so that I can get checked out?"

Slowly Gaara turned his attention away from the room the happy couple resided in. He turned it all on her, but the aura of death and destruction was hidden slightly. He nodded and turned away, following wherever Hinata might lead.

The silence began to get to Hinata, making her wish that she were alone, instead of with a very protective younger brother. 'This must be how Kiba and Shino feel after I meet one of Hanabi's boyfriends.' She glanced at Gaara, only to see him staring strait ahead, slightly above her shoulder.

"Gaara," she said finally, having had enough, "Your sister can take care of herself." The silence grew, and the atmosphere became tenser. "They have been dating for almost two years, what do you think they did on there dates?"

"Knitting," growled Gaara, which caused Hinata to giggle. He glared at her, and the suicidal part of Hinata took over. She giggled even harder. So hard in fact that she nearly lost her balance and ended up bumping into his chest. This stopped her giggling instantly, because she was so close to him.

'Don't faint! Don't faint!' she though desperately. Gaara peered down at her, and grinned as f he knew what she was thinking. It was too much for the young heiress to handle. She let darkness take over.

'Something's different,' she thought seconds later. Normally about this time she would be off in la la land, or wherever it was that she went when she fainted. Instead she was still here, just with her eyes closed. There was something warm at her back, and something pressed into her hand.

Cautiously she opened her eyes, to look directly into green orbs that were hovering over her. She looked around, and saw the uncomfortable contortion that he had put his body into, so that her back was against his chest, but his face was in front of hers. 'That must really be hurting his neck,' she thought idly, as she scrambled to her feet.

The only thing hampering her progress was her hand, which was firmly anchored by his. She stared at it dumbly before she comprehended what it meant.

'We're holding hands!' she inwardly squealed. She closed her eyes to savor it before she knew what she was doing. She snuggled into his chest and absorbed the feelings that flooded through her.

"This is just right," she whispered to herself, before she remembered where they were and jumped away in embarrassment. He just smiled, and took her hand again. Walking with her to the nurse's station and into a future of being loved, protected, and treassured.


End file.
